To fight is to lose
by Unnormal Child
Summary: Have you ever wondered how long does it take 3 shinobi to travel around the world and learn from the best to get strong in the shortest possible time? Well, Team 7 has just abandoned Konoha, and is about to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Edit: advice taken into account, no Bold for Sasuke :)**

**CHAPTER 1**

"You don't have to go, Sasuke-kun! If you stay, I promise you will always be happy!" cried out 13-years-old Sakura, tears streaming down her rosy cheeks.

"Sakura," young Uchiha murmured, turning around, "you really are... annoying."

"Well, you are the one to talk, aren't you?" a familiar voice sounded from the trees. Both Sakura and Sasuke turned to the left and saw Naruto jumping from a branch. "Like hell are we gonna let you go, teme!"

"Dobe, don't interfere," came a simple response from the brunet, his fists clenching with rage. "I'm simply wasting my time here – if I want to gain power and defeat Itachi, I have to go to Orochimaru. He will teach me how to control the seal and I will become strong in the shortest time."

Silence passed between the three.

"I created a Shadow clone," Uzumaki said off-handedly, causing Sasuke to squint his eyes with cautious – you can expect anything from Naruto's clones, he knew that better than anyone. "He is currently walking towards Hokage's tower to inform baa-chan of your escape. I will only release him if you stop being such a prick and listen to us."

"I doubt Fifth will send a squad of jounin-level shinobi after me either way. We aren't at our best now, dobe, and Konoha can't waste ninjas and resources to capture an ordinary genin."

Jinchüriki snickered. "It's funny how you always claim to be the greatest genin of Konoha – not aloud, obviously – and an all-mighty Uchiha, yet now you back down and call yourself an 'ordinary genin'. You know Tsunade will still send out someone after you."

Sharingan owner sighed and picked up a kunai from his pouch. Both Sakura and Naruto instantly became alert and stood in fighting position.

"You know we can't let you do it, Sasuke-kun," Haruno said with a frown. "Neither of us want to fight you-"

"Well, I wouldn't say neither of us!" came a bright comment.

"-but we will if you are still planning to run away," finished kunoichi, noticing her blond friend shifting a second later and throwing a few shuriken at Uchiha. "Matte, Naruto!"

However, the attack only caused Sasuke to tiredly roll his eyes and dodge them with kunai. "I thought you grew out of attacking someone without a strategy, dead-last."

"And I did," Naruto's voice behind him proclaimed. Sasuke turned just in time to grab both of clone's hands and hit him in stomach; a second later clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke but his place was taken by another five clones, attacking Sasuke from different sides.

"Created clones beforehand? So you're not as weak as I thought," Uchiha smirked, his black orbs acquiring bright red colour with three black tomoe. "But you know it's not gonna work on me, I can see which one of you is real."

As Sasuke threw yet another clone to the ground and, using an explosive tag, caused another three to disappear, he didn't anticipate a strike from behind. Real Naruto landed his left feet between Sasuke's shoulder blades, causing the latter to leap forward and fall on the ground. Uzumaki inwardly winced when the form of his teammate disappeared, instead being replaced with a log.

"Both of you, stop!" shouted Sakura, running forward and pushing Uzumaki to the ground. The blonde surely didn't expect that, for he felt, his sky-blue eyes opened in shock. He felt somewhat betrayed but soon after came to his senses: in the end, he didn't come here to initiate yet another fight with Sasuke.

Seeing as Naruto wasn't going to attack him again, Uchiha prodigy came from behind a tree, hands in his pockets and gaze as cold as ever. "Finished, dobe?"

"Never, teme!" he replied with a foxy smirk while getting up along with Sakura. However, a second later his face became more serious. "Sasuke, Sakura-chan and I just want you to stay in Konoha. Kakashi-sensei mostly trains with you anyway, so you will learn so many jutsus in no time! Besides, it's Kakashi-sensei we are talking about – can you imagine how many jutsus he copied? And with Sharingan, you can copy all of them from him."

For a short moment Team 7 stood still; Sakura's worried gaze and Naruto's determination directed at Sasuke with the latter one acting rather unfazed. A slow wind passed by them, ruffling genins' hair and clothes which went completely unnoticed by them. Whoever made the next move...

"If you want to avenge your clan so badly, Sasuke-kun," pinkette said barely above a whisper, her hands sweating at the idea and slightly trembling, "we will come with you."

Sasuke didn't react the slightest, while Naruto backed away with an "Eeh?! Sakura-chan, I didn't agree on that!"

"I don't want to leave Konoha, too, you know, but if we don't go with Sasuke-kun, we will lose him forever," she explained, a plan slowly forming in her head. Kunoichi then faced brunet, "I don't want you to go to Orochimaru because he only wants you for your Sharingan and will undoubtedly use you! If-if we are going to abandon Konoha, we can ask other strong ninjas for help."

"And how will I control Cursed seal?" he said, sounding bored, though he couldn't fool his friends – they could see his eyes glistening with something akin... care. "Even Kakashi couldn't seal it completely, hence I can only prevent it from taking over me by learning how to control it."

Naruto mumbled something incoherent, still feeling uncertain. Nevertheless, it took him a single look at his female teammate's face to realise that, yes, she wasn't joking around because Sasuke was dead serious.

_'I wanted to become a Hokage for as long as I remember myself. But could a man become one if he can't keep his friends safe? If Sasuke leaves Konoha, the chances are baa-chan will send a group of shinobi to tackle him down while will probably succeed. But then, what will keep him from running to Orochimaru again? And this damn seal...'_

"It didn't affect you as much lately, did it?" Naruto finally voiced his opinion, hands crossed on his chest and eyeing his opponent with cautiousness. "I think that there are shinobi out there, able to seal it, Sasuke. You are wrong if you think we are going to give up on you."

He could see a trace of doubt forming in his rival's eyes. He could deny it all he wanted but Naruto was certain that Sasuke wasn't a lost cause.

_'On a second thought, leaving Konoha and becoming nukenin won't be as bad if we are doing it for our friend. Besides, if we are going to have foreign ninjas as our teachers... damn, even Ero-sennin will be impressed with our abilities!' _Naruto paused. '_Oh, crap, this old pervert will undoubtedly try to haunt me down, and if he does, he and baa-chan will probably skin me alive for leaving. Eek!'_

_'If leaving Konoha will mean being Team 7 again... I will risk it. I will try to do everything I can to keep this creep away from Sasuke-kun. We will become strong together, even if it means changing everything. I will work harder from now on, Naruto, Sasuke-kun!'_

_'We were supposed to take different paths from now on. Bonds aren't supposed to mean anything to me. I'm an avenger and these two will only distract me. But, if there are indeed other ninjas, willing to teach me powerful jutsus... it's better than listening to the Snake Sannin.'_

Not paying attention to Sakura's screams anymore, blon leaped towards 'the bastard' and hit him. It seemed that Sasuke didn't disagree with the beating, for he soon laid on the ground with Uzumaki sitting on his stomach and repeatedly hitting him in his 'bastard face'.

"You... can't... imagine... how... stupid... you... sound right now!" he shouted, each word accompanied by a hit. "Sakura-chan and I are your teammates, you arrogant prick – and the only friends you will ever have!"

"And this is exactly why I have to leave!" brunet shouted in response, momentarily stopping. He had a tendency to control every word he said, yet he didn't plan on revealing his true feelings.

Clearly, neither did Naruto or Sakura that froze at his words.

Jinchüriki gave out a frustrated groan, grabbed his best friend by the collar of his shirt and lifted his head, trying to figure out what his best friends thoughts really were.

It seemed that he was content with whatever he figured out, for he backed away and stood up, helping Sasuke to get up as well. "You might think that solitude will help, but don't you get it? Friends are always there to help you, don't you dare question it."

Not a word was said for the next couple of minutes, but Naruto's words seemed to have an effect, if Sasuke's softening eyes was any indicator.

"Hn. If you are tagging along, you better not be a waste of space and have a plan as to where we go," he said finally causing Sakura's eyes to widen with relief and Naruto to chuckle.

"Well, then, you better take out map from your backpack, so we start off, dattebayo!" he announced, giving a thumb-up and releasing his Bushin jutsu. "We have at least twelve hours as a head-start and then baa-chan will start running around the village, looking for me because I'm the best ninja Konoha has."

"Baka," Haruno exasperatedly said, still looking at Sasuke from the corner of her eye and shyly smiling. Then, however, she quircked up. "Oh, if we are leaving Konoha, we have to- I mean, our bandanas-"

Her teammates nodded, neither being all too eager, but it had to be done. Sakura and Naruto took off theirs while Sasuke fished his one out of his backpack. Using the kunai he still held in his hand, Uchiha mercilessly slashed a line through Leaf sign. He then passed it to Naruto. Haruno saw her teammate's uncertainty, so she grabbed his bandana and slashed a line on both of their bandanas.

They were now officially apostates.

Without a further ado, Uchiha prodigy took out a map from his backpack and laid it on a nearby bench for everyone to see.

"We are currently in neutral relationship with Sand, hence we can't go to Wind," kunoichi commented while absorbing the map and calculating their possibilities. "This leaves us with Water, Lightning and Earth being three major countries where we are more likely to find strong shinobi."

"Well, Earth is the closest but it's also the most vicious, isn't it?" Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. "I they find out about our true identities, they will kill us without as much as blinking."

"Lightning or Water," Sasuke finalised, though it was clear which one he was likely to choose. "I have Lightning natured chakra, which means I will be able to perfect it in Kumogakure. Let's go."

"Ch-ch-chotto matte! What the hell, dattebayo?!" blond ninja exclaimed, sounding pissed off. "I get it we are coming with you because we are your friends and everything, but the main part here is we are _friends. _You know, making decisions together and everyone should agree."

Konoha's biggest knucklehead was rewarded with a pitiful look from both of his teammates – he could literally see 'Shut your trap' written across their faces in black Sharpie. He knew that he could argue with Sasuke all he wanted but Sakura will simply slap him across the back of his head and give him evils.

"I think you are forgetting that we are going _after _Sasuke-kun, not _with _him like we usually do on mission," Sakura retorted while putting her bandana in a pouch, her Inner Self screaming at how stupid Naruto can be at times.

"If you want to go somewhere else, you are always free to," Uchiha told him with a shrug, scanning the map with Sharingan, thereby memorising it. "It will take us around 6 days to get to Kumogakure if we will only stop for night."

Naruto and Sakura nodded, the three of them taking off. Deciding that it would be too risky, leaving the village through its main entrance, shinobi took a short cut and were now heading in north-east direction. From what Sakura could remember, they will have to pass through Yugakure and Shimogakure. In girl's opinion, it could have been worse, yet the fact that they might bypass some of Oto ninjas was an unsettling one.

Sasuke tried to ignore the chills he felt while leaving Konoha's border, reason being he wasn't sure whether they were caused because of his leave or due to rather nasty weather.

As he folded his bandana – the only sign that he belonged to Konoha – and put it in his backpack, he stole a quick look behind him. The idiotic loudmouth, as always, walked without worrying about a thing with that goofy smile of his face and hands clasped behind his head; Sakura, surprisingly, looked quite relaxed as well, having a small smile on her young face.

_'Such a care-free shinobi these two are,'_Sasuke thought, not realising that the corners of his lips lit up, thought just a bit – not enough to form a smile but it didn't look like one of his 'Uchiha-smirks' either. '_I wonder how long it will take to shatter their perfectionist view of our world.'_

The silence was comforting, to say the least – if Team 7 listened carefully enough, they would undoubtedly hear cicada's humming or small animals looking for a hideout because predators were always present.

Of course, peace didn't last for long.

"Ehh, guys, I don't have anything to wear because I didn't know we are leaving..?"

Tch.

Dobe.


	2. Chapter 2

**On a side not, I ****_absolutely _****love Kumo and its ninjas – believe it or not, Killer B isn't my most favourite ninja from Kumogakure – so you will see a lot of Kumo-nins in future :)**

**Also, Sakura will become less annoying as the story progresses but it will take some time**

CHAPTER 2

"Guys, I'm tired – can we stop and have a takeout from some eatery?"

Vein popped on Sakura's forehead – hell, they travelled for only 4 hours and baka was already complaining! Sasuke, as expected, didn't react the slightest, the only confirmation that he heard the blond being a sigh.

"Oi, seriously, I'm hungry!" Naruto shouted, annoyed. "I didn't have anything to eat for over seven hours. If we don't stop and eat something, I will soon starve to death, fall on the ground and you will be the ones in trouble – I mean, won't two genins with a dead body with them look suspicious?"

"If you don't shut your trap right now, your death will come much sooner and we will dispose of your body," Sakura darkly warned and Uzumaki could swear on every coupon for free ramen he ever owned that he could see a devil shining through her green eyes.

"B-but Sakura-chan, if we don't stop and eat something, we will be weak and easy to attack! Besides, this is the first eatery we stumbled upon after leaving Konoha," he exclaimed, motioning to a small building with a signboard 'Buy 2, get 1 for free!' which looked crowded, probably meaning that the place worked 24/7.

His teammates soon realised that arguing with stubborn blond would be like arguing with a wall, hence all of them entered the café. The slightly dirty walls and a strong smell of beer and noodles was expected, yet not wanted. Still, it was the only eatery around, so they settled near the back and, after receiving menus from the waiter, made themselves comfortable.

However, the comfortable silence didn't last for long – it was Team 7 you were talking about.

"Ugh, why do they only have fattening food?" Sakura complained, flipping through her menu with a deep frown. "Pork Ginger – grilled pork with soy based ginger sauce; Katsu Curry – deep fried crumbled pork or chicken with curry sauce; Teriyaki Beef – grilled beef with teriyaki sauce and garlic butter. Gee, why don't they have any salads or simple food like potato or rice?"

"Hai, hai," Jinchüriki nodded, the look on his face even sadder, "or something that would at least distantly taste like ramen?"

"Order noodles, dobe," Sasuke said while rolling his eyes. "We aren't out for a vacation."

"I know that," blond ninja nodded and, checking if anyone was listening, added, "but can't nukenins have some fun?"

Instantly, poor guy received two punches from his friends – one in stomach and one straight in face, causing Naruto to fall face down on a table and murmur something about violent friends that can't take a moment to appreciate his sense of humour.

In the end, Naruto ordered three bowls of curry udon, Sasuke took salad udon and Sakura settled on Croquette Roll – potato croquette in fresh roll bread, served with salad – the healthiest alternative she could find.

Silently, she picked out tomatoes from her salad and placed them in Sasuke's bowl. Uchiha prodigy nodded, acknowledging her caring, for his love for tomatoes wasn't a secret to any member of Team 7.

When they finished eating, it was almost three in the morning. The three of them felt too tired and decided to get a nap. Sasuke was the only one who had money and it barely covered a single hotel room. Because the owner of the hotel was an greedy guy, he demanded getting a full pay of a one-night stay. Neither had any energy to argue.

But as Team 7 members entered the room, they faced a dilemma – one bed. Besides the fact that it was one of the crappiest beds any of them got to see in their lives – a simple tatami would be more than welcome at that moment – it was also a single bed, hence only one person could fit. Or two, if hugging each other during sleep wasn't a problem.

"I think Sakura-chan is the one that deserves a bed," Naruto said while jumping on sofa that had springs sticking out of it in all directions.

Girl's eye twitched, "Is it because I'm a female?" Boy did she hate sexist pigs.

Shinobi's blue orbs widened and he started vigorously shaking his head, "Sakura-chan, you know that I would never think of you any less because you are a girl! You are just as able as us and can lay on the floor if you want."

"And it's exactly what I will do," pinkette proclaimed and settled on the floor next to the window, turning her back to her teammates. Of course, she didn't want to do it – who would willingly sleep on the floor, instead of having a nap on, although rubbish, bed? She wasn't crazy, all right – she was just extremely stubborn.

There was a moment of silence before a piece of clothing felt on her. Kunoichi opened her eyes and her mouth before turning around, ready to shout at Naruto for throwing his clothes around without a care in the world, but she was left speechless after realising that jacket laying atop her was dark-blue.

"You will freeze and get ill, baka," Sasuke murmured and swiftly turned around, ducking his head because he just did something that was very unlike him. A shy smile spread on Sakura's face and, giving out a girlish giggle, she settled back and snuggled into her teammate's cotton jacket.

A moment later another piece of clothing was dropped on poor girl. "I care about you, too, Sakura-chan!" As expected, it was his bright-orange jacket that he decided to lend to Sakura.

Pinkette's first thought was to throw it off and shout at Naruto for not understanding the situation, but she then realised how hard on him it will be. He hasn't been a complete idiot in the last few hours, so she can forgive him for being so oblivious. This time.

"Thanks, Naruto."

It was now a choice of who will get the bed, neither Naruto nor Sasuke showing that they were particularly interested, for if one showed interest, he would undoubtedly lose in their silent pride challenge.

Some time later they heard their female teammate lightly snoring and realised they were wasting time.

"Are you going to take the bed, teme, or do you need help?" Naruto remarked, whispering his words because waking up Sakura was one of the worst things one can imagine.

"Unless you need to be picked up bridal style and placed on the bed, then, no, I don't need help," Sasuke responded in his cold tone, though Uzumaki could see a smirk already forming on his arrogant Uchiha face.

"Ah, so you are too proud to lay on the bed? Want to look cooler than everyone else?"

"I thought ladies went first, hence you can lay on the bed."

Boys argued some more but Naruto felt like he had enough, so he stormed towards the poor bed and sprawled on it with a content smile.

BAM!

Blond opened his eyes in a startle because _this bastard just kicked him off the bed and laid on it like a king!_

"I won't back off, dattebayo!" he whispered with an evil grin and hopped back on the bed, making Sasuke moves and gives him space. "Move it, oh all-mighty Uchiha-san!"

He instantly received a kick in his kidneys and responded with a punch. After some more bickering, the two finally settled with their backs towards each other and a pissed-off look on their faces.

It didn't take them long to fall asleep, albeit being woken up approximately four hours later.

The first thing that Sasuke saw after opening his charcoal eyes was a blur of pink close to his face. He blinked a few times and restrained from yawning – Uchihas didn't yawn, damn it! - before his eyes finally adjusted to the sunlit room. He looked at his female teammate that stood next to the bed with her hands crossed on her chest and mischievous smirk on her face.

"Morning, Mr and Mrs Uzumaki," she singsonged, her eyes moving from him to the spot to Sasuke's left. Instantly, the boy was very much aware that there was a body laying next to him and, if Sakura's teasing meant anything, then...

"Usuratonkachi," he growled and direct hit to blond's butt caused the latter to roll off the bed and fall on the floor with a loud thud. Albeit Naruto being a heavy sleeper, he gave out a strangles moan and sat up, his mused hair and crumpled clothes making it look as if he slept for eight full hours.

"The hell, Sas-uke?" he rasped, squinting at his rival. "Why did I wake up on the floor?"

"Because you are clumsy," brunet said, his eyes twitching.

Haruno simply smiled, mildly happy that the boys were getting along. Truth to be told, she was nervous that the next morning Sasuke will come back to his dark thoughts, but here they were, spending their morning just like usually. "Lets go, Naruto, Sasuke-kun."

But first, the three of them visited a civilian shop and bought something to wear that wouldn't look too out of place. Naruto's orange attire was replaced with dark-green shirt and black trousers; Sasuke only bothered to replace his family's t-shirt with an ordinary dark-blue shirt, while Sakura decided that a button-up red blouse and black leggings would do just fine.

Because they abandoned village, Naruto didn't feel as bad for stealing money; well, he didn't call it 'stealing', per se, because he was 'borrowing' it from rich and arrogant men that Team 7 occasionally saw.

They travelled for the next five days. Crossing Lightning's border on the fourth day of their trip wasn't such a hard task, for they covered their tracks well to make sure Konoha won't be able to follow them. Genins pretended to be simple civilians that travelled to Kumogakure in order to help their uncle with his weapon shop.

The weather in Lightning wasn't much different from Fire's – it was mostly sunny, though the temperature seemed to be much higher. When Naruto insisted on taking his shirt off because it was extremely boiling, Sakura simply hit his head and said that they 'weren't chilling on a beach'. That shut him up.

Both still wondered how did Sasuke manage to do just fine with half of his face constantly buried in his shirt's collar.

Reaching Kumogakure, Sakura and Naruto didn't bother to hide their awe with Sasuke being as unamused as ever. The name of the village very much represented itself – the village located in a range of tall mountains and clouds were floating so low it seemed as if you can touch it just by jumping.

It somewhat surprised the three of them that the people living here dressed so... alike. The shinobi's ordinary attire was understandable - long, grey top which gathers just at the waist to give a sash-like appearance, with a matching coloured bottom. Over this they wore white, one-strapped flak jackets and arm as well as shin-guards. Civilians, however, seemed to have quite a similar style, too, as they mostly dressed in grey or black.

'_Heh, Naruto's bright attire would look completely ridiculous here, thanks Kami we made him change it to something less eye-catching!' _Sakura thought to herself, stealing a peek at her teammates that were too busy assessing village.

The three spent a few hours walking around the village, wearing previously stolen Kumo bandanas to blend in. The village was... interesting, to say the least, with mountains all over the place.

Team 7 got some dango, though Sasuke refused to eat any, leaving more to his teammates. It caused Naruto to complain once again about how 'weird' his best friend was and that 'only crazy people don't like sweets'. Irritated, Uchiha grabbed dango from blond's hand and dropped it in a nearby bin. A scream full of desperation and agony was heard kilometres away.

"Do we have a plan, though?" Naruto finally asked as they watched an ordinary street fight. "I mean, we've gotta find someone to train us, but I haven't seen anyone particularly strong as of yet. You can't just walk up to someone and say 'Heya, do you want to be our teacher?' - this would be too weird even for us."

Sakura nervously giggled at the 'us' part. '_Look who's talking now, the king of weirdness._'

"That's really simple, dobe," Sasuke said as he dropped his backpack on the ground. "Watch after my stuff."

Ignoring his teammates' shouts of protest, he separated from the circle that was formed around the fighting pair. It took him two swift moves to knock them unconscious, and the whooping and screaming instantly stopped, forming dead silence.

"I haven't had a good opponent in a while," he said loud enough for everyone to hear. "And I want to fight someone strong enough to oppose me."

People started whispering and arguing with each other, some even going as far as threatening Sasuke and telling him to get out. However, the boy stood still, looking around and assessing possible spar partners. '_That blonde doesn't even know how to hold kunai properly and the guy beside her doesn't look too promising, either. The redhead seems confident, but her chakra comes out in waves, instead of regular smooths flow – there is nothing worse but ninja that can't control his chakra. It would be so much easier to use Sharingan, but it will blow my cover.'_

"Che, who do you think you are?" brunet looked over his left shoulder and smirked. The boy didn't look older than himself; his spiky white hair contrasted with boy's dark skin and brown eyes. His shinobi attire wasn't what caught Sasuke's attention – instead, it was a long sword, pointing right at him.

"I think I know perfectly well of who I am," he retorted before running to his opponent in order to grab shinobi's hands and disarm him. However, said shinobi was quicker and, instead of backing away, lunged forward; it resulted in Sasuke grabbing boy's arms above his elbows which, both knew, wasn't good.

Given an opportunity, Kumo shinobi was able to move his hands and move sword forward – it wasn't strong enough to slice the weapon through enemy's body, instead to make him back away. And, foolishly, Sasuke did just that, letting go of boy's arms.

"Sasuke, catch!" Naruto shouted and threw a katana he just took from a shinobi to his friend. Brunet didn't risk turning around, instead analysing boy's every move and catching katana without looking. Even without Sharingan Sasuke could see that he was good. The way he moved with katana as if it was the continuity of his hand left no doubt that the boy in front of him spent a good amount of his training time practising kenjutsu. Maybe he was even specialised in the sword art.

"Sasuke, huh?" blond said, his gaze challenging. "Sounds like a girl's name."

Naruto burst out laughing, pointing at his friend. "Ahaha, Sasuke-chan got owned!"

"Shut up, baka," Sakura roared and hit his head. "Unlike you, Sasuke-kun is at least doing something!"

"Well, is it my fault that I'm not the only one, thinking his name is feminine?"

"It's not!"

"Yes, it is!"

Uchiha prodigy ignored Naruto's laugh and Sakura's shouts because _what the hell did this jerk just say?! "_I see you are extremely confident."

"Ah, that I am," the boy said, counterattacking Sasuke with his katana. The latter never bothered training with katanas too much because of him being a shinobi that could always use jutsus; besides, he dealt just fine with kunai and shurikens, but katana was his weak spot.

It was evident to both of them, so Sasuke distanced himself from the boy and attacked him with a volley of small fireballs. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"

"Ah, Fire type technique, impressive," the blond commented, having a thoughtful face expression while dodging them and slicing through those he couldn't avoid with katana.

It took Sasuke a matter of five seconds to realise what kind of technique the bastard used. "Are you... infusing your katana with chakra?"

After all fireballs were gone, the blond faced Uchiha and nodded. "Because my chakra's nature is lightning, I provide my weapon with chakra which increases its cutting power and... ehh I don't know how to explain it."

One of the civilians started complaining about the fight no longer being as interesting because it was now a matter of who was more capable in ninjutsu, with the rest of people soon joining him. Sasuke glanced at his teammates that were waiting for him and then back at the boy.

"What's your name?"

"I don't feel a need to tell you," the ninja said with s shrug and hid his katana.

"You already know my name."

"So?"

The moment became intense, soon turning into staring competition. '_Arrogant prick thinks he can act like he is stronger than me.'_

The silence was broken with a female scream, "Omoi! Omoi, what the heck do you think you are doing?!"

Sasuke wouldn't pay attention to it but he saw his opponent slightly shifting and frown forming on his face. So, his name is Omoi, huh?

"Omoi, I'll kick your ass if you act so ignorant one more time!" a girl, no older than 13, stormed towards Omoi and showed him her fist. "And this is what you will see every time you act like a jerk, got it?"

"Karui, just because you have a flat chest doesn't mean you have to act bitchy all the time," he said lazily.

"The heck did you just say?!" redhead scream and a few civilians turned around with a knowing smile, whispering something along the lines of 'Ah, it's Karui-chan being herself'.

It didn't go unnoticed by Naruto how similar the situation felt... '_Is it what it looks like when Sakura-chan is angry with me? Ehh, she looks really creepy!'_

Haruno's eyes, on the contrary, lit up._'This girl sure gets how annoying it is when guy calls her flat-chested! Whoever his Karui is, I already love her!_'

"I'm just stating the facts," Omoi said with a shrug, instantly receiving evils from his friend.

Redhead soon realised that she interrupted something. "Were you fighting with these lot? I haven't seen them before."

"Same goes to you," Sasuke coldly replied.

"Ice cube, aren't you?" the girl said without amusement. "Hate shinobi that see themselves as being more important than others. Name?"

"He's Sasuke," Omoi told her, taking out a lollipop from his pocket and shoving it in his mouth.

"And why were the two of you fighting? Did he challenge you?"

"Eh, if I didn't step in, then someone else would have. With his fire techniques he could have killed someone which will really piss off Raikage-sama. And if he is pissed, our teacher is pissed off, too, so he will be extra harsh on us and will probably make us sell all the tickets for his rap concert again," the boy explained, shrugging.

The three members of Team 7 stood there, frozen, along with the people in the circle. What exactly did he just say..?

"Bakaero, I told you to stop saying idiotic things and exaggerating everything," redhead growled, not bothering to punch her friend anymore. "C'mon, B-san is already waiting for us."

Sighing, Omoi waved to Sasuke and turned around, about to leave.

"Wait, I want to spare with you again," brunet said with a smirk on his pale face which caused Kumo-nin to stop.

Looking over his shoulder at his previous opponent, Omoi nodded. "The feeling is mutual. Let's meet here tomorrow at the sunrise with replenished chakra and have a good, ol' spare."

Sasuke hummed and walked towards his team, already anticipating the next day.

"Eeh, why does Sasuke always get to fight strong ninjas?" Naruto whined, looking expectantly at his female teammate.

"Because he actually puts effort into finding someone that can fight him," Haruno replied with a shrug while her Inner danced in joy. '_Sasuke-kun is as cool as ever, shannaro!'_

"Hn." Uchiha picked up his stuff, a smirk still present on his face as he saw his friend and rival almost fuming.

"Yoosh, I will find myself an adversary, too, you know! Just watch me!" Naruto exclaimed with his fist in the air. He then separated from his friends and, standing in the middle of the street, shouted, "My name is Naruto, dattebayo, and I can beat anyone here! Come at me!"

His proclamation was met with dead silence and then people burst out laughing, pointing at him.

"You better stop talking so much, because I'm here, don't lose your touch, yo!" An unfamiliar voice rapped from the crowd.


End file.
